Ex parte Siebold

Supreme Court of the United States · Federal Courts

Federal CourtsElections ClauseHabeas CorpusFederal Supremacyhabeas corpusjurisdictionvoid judgmentunconstitutional statute

Facts

The petitioners were judges of election at Baltimore precincts during the November 5, 1878 election for representatives to the Forty-sixth Congress. They were convicted in federal circuit court under Revised Statutes sections 5515 and 5522 for conduct including obstructing federal election supervisors and deputy marshals, preventing their access to polling places, and in some instances fraudulently placing extra ballots in the ballot box. Their challenge attacked the constitutionality of the federal election statutes authorizing supervisors and deputy marshals and criminalizing interference with them and election fraud by election officers. They contended that if those statutes were invalid, the convictions and resulting imprisonment were void.

Issue

May the Supreme Court use habeas corpus to review imprisonment under a criminal conviction entered by a federal court when the prisoner argues that the statute of conviction is unconstitutional and thus the sentencing court lacked jurisdiction? If so, did Congress constitutionally enact these federal regulations and enforcement provisions governing elections for representatives in Congress?

Rule

Habeas corpus cannot serve as a mere writ of error, but it may be used to discharge a prisoner held under a conviction that is void because the sentencing court lacked jurisdiction, including where the underlying statute is unconstitutional. Under the Elections Clause, Congress has paramount authority to make or alter regulations for congressional elections and may exercise that authority partially as well as wholly; state regulations remain operative only insofar as they do not conflict with federal law. Congress may enforce those regulations by punishing violations, protecting federal officers executing them, and vesting appointment of inferior officers in the courts of law.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

In Columbus, Ohio, Devin Mercer was convicted in federal court under a federal statute criminalizing conduct at elections for the U.S. House. He files an original habeas petition in the Supreme Court arguing not that the trial judge made ordinary legal mistakes, but that the statute itself is unconstitutional and therefore created no federal crime at all.

How should the Court characterize the availability of habeas relief?

Explanation. The majority distinguished mere error from voidness. Habeas is not a substitute for ordinary appellate review, but it is proper where the committing court lacked jurisdiction or the proceedings are otherwise void. A conviction under an unconstitutional federal law is void because the law is no law, creates no crime, and gives the trial court no jurisdiction over the cause. (Derived from Ex parte Siebold (n.d.).)